The technology described herein relates to selecting one or more encoding options to use when encoding a set of data elements using an encoding scheme.
It is common to encode a set of data elements, such as an array of data elements representing an image or graphics texture, using an encoding scheme, for example so as to reduce the amount of bandwidth and/or storage needed to transfer and/or store the data. Many different encoding schemes are available for this purpose. Some encoding schemes require certain encoding options to be selected for the data to be encoded that can provide acceptable (e.g. optimal or near optimal) encoding, for example in terms of compression ratio and/or quality of the subsequently decoded data. The selected encoding options can then be used when encoding the data. The process of selecting between encoding options to use is typically performed by brute force and/or heuristically, e.g. using a branch-and-bound search. However, this process can consume significant amounts of processing resources and/or processing time to complete.
The Applicants believe that there remains scope for improvements in selecting one or more encoding options to use when encoding a set of data elements using an encoding scheme.
The drawings show elements of a data processing apparatus and system that are relevant to embodiments of the technology described herein. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, there may be other elements of the data processing apparatus and system that are not illustrated in the drawings. It should also be noted here that the drawings are only schematic, and that, for example, in practice the shown elements may share significant hardware circuits, even though they are shown schematically as separate elements in the drawings. Like reference numerals are used for like elements where appropriate in the drawings.